Candidate Assails Easton Council On Proposed Pay Hike

Easton City Council candidate Diane M. Reynolds yesterday blasted council members for considering salary increases for themselves less than two months after freezing wages for union workers.

Reynolds, stumping on the steps of City Hall, called for council to vote against the salary increase next week and promised not to accept the increase if elected.

"It is unconscionable for council to consider raising their salaries during these economic times and especially just after they voted to freeze city workers' wages for 18 months," Reynolds said.

However, Council President William D. Houston said Reynolds probably should have saved her breath because it's unlikely anyone on council will vote in favor of the ordinance.

"We have to introduce the ordinance, but we don't have to approve it," Houston said. "Every indication is that it will not be passed. Anyone using that as a topic for their campaign is just doing it to arouse the public into voting for them. I think the public's smarter than that."

Houston last week introduced an ordinance to set council salaries at $9,840 in 1996 and $10,332 in 1997. Salaries have routinely increased 5 percent a year, and set three to four years in advance so council members are not voting directly on their own salaries.

In January, the city laid off six sanitation workers, froze wages on all non-union employees in City Hall, and negotiated a contract with non-uniform union workers that includes an 18-month wage freeze.

Reynolds argues that not only is the timing bad for such an ordinance, but Easton, which this year pays its council president $8,530 and council members $8,030, already has the highest paid council in the Lehigh Valley. Comparatively, Allentown pays its president $5,500 and members $5,000, and Bethlehem pays $5,000 to its president and $4,500 for members.

And unless council freezes the rate, the gap stands to grow larger because Bethlehem council salaries traditionally increase by $125, or less than 3 percent a year, while Allentown's usually grows by 3 percent a year.

"If I told my employees that the business could not afford pay increases or additional benefits this year and then drove to work the next day in a brand new Porsche, I think their reaction would be the same as ours," Reynolds said. "It just sends the wrong message."

"I agree the timing is bad for such an increase and that's why we won't approve it," Houston said. "The timing on her statement is bad, too. The time to criticize council on something like this is after it votes, not before."

Council is due to vote on the salary ordinance next Wednesday.

Reynolds, 39, is owner of Easton Finishing Works and a master sergeant in the U.S. Army Reserves. A Democrat, she is one of seven candidates collecting names for petitions to qualify for the May Primary ballot.

The council terms of Democrats Houston and Carol J. Weaver are due to expire this year. Weaver has already announced her candidacy and Houston is expected to announce soon.